


Life is a dream

by bookspf



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Deserves Better, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-16 05:32:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18514909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookspf/pseuds/bookspf
Summary: Peter really was enjoying his life, everything had been working out lately. He was doing great in school, practicing with the decathlon team, building Legos with Ned, having a secret crush on MJ –he was really subtle about it thank you very much- with no more pointless drama balancing his life as Peter Parker and Spiderman, he even got to go to the Avengers compound and spend some time with his mentor/father figure Tony Stark. Yeah, his life was pretty much perfect right now, even though he kept having these weird dreams of a fire.So naturally, it all had to go to hell. Parker Luck.





	1. I don’t know why I feel this way

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!  
> This is my first fic ever and i’m really nervous about posting this because i’m not really sure this story is good or well written but I LOOOOOVE Iron Dad and his Spider Son so what can you do? I think I have read every single possible Iron Dad fan fiction in the last couple of years since Spiderman: Homecoming came out because Tony is just my favorite character ever and I just love his relationship with Peter, so after all this time I just decided I should try and write down a little bit of what is going through my mind since we are only a few days away from Endgame (that is going to destroy me btw)  
> I also changed some timelines so everything can make sense, mostly Peter's birthday  
> English is not my first language so if there are any mistakes at all, just try to ignore them or tell me so I can correct them but I tried my best and I hope that you guys can understand what i’m writing.  
> 

Peter Benjamin Parker. Born August 10 2004. Genius kid, currently a student in Midtown School of Science and Technology, also, your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. His life was not really the easiest, let’s recap: Dead parents since you were 4 years old, barely remembering them and going to live with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May since then, getting superpowers from a radioactive spider on a field trip at age 14, then having your uncle/father figure shot in front of you and having him die in your arms, really put a lot of guilt on your mind. Then becoming a superhero, being recruited my Iron Man, getting a new suit, screwing up, losing the new suit, going to homecoming, fighting your homecoming date´s dad, crushing a plane, defeating the Vulture, refusing a place in the Avengers and his aunt May finding out he was Spiderman all of that at age 15, well it was a lot. 

But everything had been working out lately. May had been really stressed out when she found out about her nephew being Spiderman but then she warmed into it, well mostly, with a lot of rules and curfews, a long talk about keeping secrets and how school had to come first before anything else. Eventually, she was okay with it, well, when he wasn’t injured or bleeding after patrol, because if not she would freak out a bit. Okay a lot.

He kept having these weird dreams. They had started the night he defeated the Vulture. They were like flashbacks of a house on fire, an accident of some sort. Then a familiar voice screaming his name, a woman´s voice, but he could never recognize who it belonged to. He was in the middle of the fire, everything blurry because of the smoke, trying to go after that voice. Then someone else carrying him away. Then he woke up, with the feeling of it being more than just a dream, they almost felt like, memories? No, it couldn’t be. He didn’t know why he felt like this but he kept telling himself it was all because of his fight the vulture and all the fire around him in the fight. Besides, it was just a dream, right? It didn’t mean anything.

Then there was Tony Stark. His idol, his mentor, his hero and his kinda sort of father figure. Not that he would admit that out loud to anyone. It was just the way his mind started to think about him after all the protocols, lectures and lab time dedicated to him by the man. It really wasn’t his fault. But after all the ferry fiasco and the homecoming fight with the vulture, Tony really started to take more seriously his role as his mentor. Now and then, a couple of Fridays every month, Happy would pick him up from school and take him to the Avengers Compound and he would stay there the whole weekend. He got to be in the labs with Tony, mostly fixing his suit or adding new protocols to keep him from getting in trouble, and sometimes when there wasn’t much to be done with his suit, Mr. Stark would even let him have a look to some SI projects he was working on. There was even one time Peter got to touch and work on an Iron Man gauntlet and to say his inner fanboy was screaming would be an understatement. 

On his weekends there he also got to train a little bit, learning some fighting techniques with Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes. He didn’t scream when he met the man. Nope. Not at all. Or not out loud at least. It was like with the Iron Man gauntlet. Only screaming internally. 

Then, he got to meet Pepper Potts. The Pepper Potts. CEO of Stark Industries and Mr. Stark´s fiancée. This time he couldn’t keep his inner fanboy controlled and he did died of excitement and probably embarrassed himself a lot when he first met her but she was really kind and understanding, even asked him to call her Pepper instead of Miss Potts and well, you can’t fight against The Pepper Potts, so now he as on a first-name basis with the CEO of Stark Industries. Yeah his life could be worse.

This was one of those weekends in which Peter got to spend time with Tony. They were in the lab, ordered some pizza and worked on Peter´s suit and other tech until it was Sunday again and it was his time to leave. Aunt May must be waiting for him and he had school the next day so he thanked Mr. Stark and got to meet Happy in the car to start his way back to Queens.


	2. Here I am, without anything else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's when he felt it, his spidey sense, screaming danger at him, something was wrong, he started looking everywhere to spot whatever it was his senses were warning him about and then he saw it. A car coming at an alarming speed at them, knowing it was going to hit May´s side of the car, he did the only thing he could think about in that moment.  
> He took out his seat belt and jumped in her side to cover her from the crash. Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, i told you i had this chapter written already.  
> Also im obsessed, i need help.  
> Anyway, enjoy chapter 2!!

Peter really was enjoying his life, not even Flash´s words bothered him anymore. He was doing great in school, practicing with the decathlon team, building Legos with Ned, having a secret crush on MJ –he was really subtle about it thank you very much- with no more pointless drama balancing his life as Peter Parker and Spiderman, his aunt was fine with him being a superhero, he even got to go to the Avengers compound to work on his suit –and sometimes other amazing technology when Tony let him- enjoying some time with his mentor and kinda like father figure. Yeah, his life was pretty much perfect right now.

So naturally, it all had to go to hell. Parker Luck.

It was like any other Monday night. Peter had done his homework, gone on patrol as Spiderman and he got home just in time to see Aunt May burn yet another dinner. So they went out to get Thai. A couple of hours later, they were on their way home, laughing, talking and Peter making fun of his aunt and her inability to cook.

"Aunt May, you know, this is like the third time this month you almost set the kitchen on fire" –Peter said laughing, she really was a bad cook.

"I know, honey, you don´t need to remind me. That's why we always end up eating take out anyway but you have to admit there have been some few times I can manage to cook something decent."

"Yeah, those half-burned brownies were great."

"Ha ha, laugh all you want but I know you loved them"

"Sure Aunt May, whatever works for you. Anyway thanks for dinner"

"Of course Peter, so how is school? And the decathlon team?"

"Oh yeah! I´ve been meaning to tell you, we have a decathlon competition in like a month, they invited over some others school to participate and from what they have told us, there are going to be some people from colleges to check it out, I’m really nervous and I was wondering if maybe you could come?"

"Peter, you know I wouldn’t miss it for the world, right?"

"I larb you, Aunt May"

"Oh I larb you too Peter"

That's when he felt it, his spidey sense, screaming danger at him, something was wrong, he started looking everywhere to spot whatever it was his senses were warning him about and then he saw it. A car coming at an alarming speed at them, knowing it was going to hit May's side of the car, he did the only thing he could think about in that moment.

He took out his seat belt and jumped in her side to cover her from the crash. Then everything went black.

  
\-----------------------------  


There was a very annoying beeping sound. When Peter finally opened his eyes, he saw sunlight getting in from a window and a further look into the room made him realize he was connected to a bunch of machines and tubes, then with all the white walls and medical equipment it wasn’t hard to know that he was at a hospital and suddenly all the events from the night before came back to him.

_The accident, jumping in front on the driver seat, Aunt May!_

He tried to sit up and get out of the bed, but just as he was about to accomplish that, a doctor and a couple of nurses came in his room to check on him.

"Hey Peter. My name is Doctor Emily Jackson, you are in Queens General Hospital, how are you feeling? Do you remember anything?"

"I… I was in a car accident… with my aunt. Wait, where is she? Is she okay?"

"I can't tell you a lot of details because her situation is complicated, other doctors are still working on her, what I know for now is that she is alive but in critical condition, as were you. Both of you suffered several injuries from the car accident and I am here to make sure you are okay.”

For the next 40 minutes Peter was under a full medical check out since he had been the one who took the brunt of the impact, they wanted to make sure he really was good to get up. Everyone was surprised to see how he had miraculously recovered overnight, all the serious injuries were already healed and he only had some slight bruises and cuts in his left side, but even those were healing already.

But all he really wanted to do was see his aunt. Was she okay? What were the doctors not telling him? He was really worried about her, even though he tried to protect her in hadn´t been enough. When the doctor came in to talk to him, the first thing he did was ask about his aunt and what had happened while he was unconscious.

"Peter I honestly have no idea how this is possible, from what the paramedics told us when you both arrived here, you somehow saw the car coming your way and tried to protect your aunt, therefore you took most of the hit and yet here you are almost fully healed right now. Anyway, I have no way of explaining it but I´m glad you are okay. Now, knowing that you are better we can talk some of the details of what happened to your aunt."

"Yes, please, Doctor Jackson, is she okay? When can I see her?"

"Even though your body shielded her from the worst of the crash, she suffered a significant blow to the head, she has been unconscious since they brought her in and our main concern has been the risk of a hemorrhage or a stroke so we sedated her and we are monitoring her 24/7 because head wounds are really tricky and really delicate. She is now stable but remains unconscious, so all we can really do right now is wait for her body to fully recover from the blow. You can go in to see her for a moment but later, you and I need to talk a little bit of what is going to happen to you.

"What do you mean? What about me?"

"She is listed as your only guardian Peter, if she is unable to take care of you, as she is right now, you need someone to look after you. I know this is not ideal and you have a lot in your mind right now so why don’t you go see your aunt and we will talk about this afterward."

Peter didn’t say anything, he just nodded and started walking in the general direction of the room the doctor had pointed at. He really hadn’t thought about it at all. He was starting to panic a little, he had no idea what to do.

_Oh shit. What am I going to do? Should I call Ned?_

When he walked in the room his aunt was in and finally saw her, eyes closed, connected to a bunch of machines reading her vitals, IV´s in her arms, lying unconscious, all of his thoughts stopped, he just run to her to hold her hand and listen to the soft sound of her breathing.

She is alive. She is alive. She is alive.

_I don’t know what I would do without you May. Please. You have to be strong. You can’t leave me. You are all I have._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!  
> Originally I was going to kill Aunt May in this story so that Peter would go kinda permanently into foster care until Tony found him but then I realized I love Aunt May too much to kill her off, so I tried to find a way for her to stay alive and eventually she will be better. I have no idea how foster systems work though, so sorry for the inaccuracies made but it’s all for the sake of the story.  
> Chapter 3 is on the way.  
> Also, Tony will make his official appearance in the next chapter.


	3. It seems like this life is not real.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So he hit the call button. He was kinda nervous while it rang. What would happen if Mr. Stark didn’t answer? What was he going to do? The man cared for him, right? Even without Spiderman, they had become closer and closer. Peter hoped that Mr. Stark could come pick him up, that he would care enough to not leave him in foster care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise another chapter on the same day!  
> As i said, im obsessed, i need help and i already have this chapter ready and its pretty long, mostly to explain what is going to happen to Peter.  
> Okay, so i lied, Tony is not in this chapter, sorry, but only because it got so long and it didn't feel right just yet. But in the next one he is going to be for sure and some more interesting things are coming up.  
> Enjoy!

Peter stayed with his aunt for as long as they would let him. He talked to her, knowing she wasn’t going to answer but he needed her to know that he was okay and that she was going to be too. After the steady beeping of the machine connected to his aunt´s vitals calmed him down a little, knowing she was alive, he allowed himself to panic, now the fact that his aunt was almost in a coma starting to get through his mind.

What was he going to do? As Doctor Jackson said, he couldn’t really stay all by himself. As much as he wanted to and as much as he was capable of looking after himself, it was not likely that the hospital was going to release him after being in a car crash to be living alone with no guardian.

So what were his options? He could call Ned, but the problem was that his parents were away, on a business trip and he was on the care of his sister who was barely an adult herself. So that was probably a no. Maybe MJ? They weren´t as close as he was with Ned, but in the last few months they were starting to be closer and he kinda liked her, maybe he could go live with her just for a short amount of time? If her parents let him. Is that weird? Asking the girl you like for a place to live temporally because your aunt is unconscious in the hospital? Probably, so that´s another no. He thought of calling Happy or Mr. Stark, I mean, they were kinda close, right? He really didn´t want to bother them, he knew they were both busy, but well, they were an option, as much as Peter didn’t like to bother them, it was better than whatever the hospital could come up with. Better than strangers.

Eventually, Doctor Jackson came in with someone else behind her, she told him they had to speak privately and he followed them out of the room after he held May’s hand in his and assured her he would come back to visit her as soon as possible. They took him to what appeared to be small conference room, where he, the doctor and the other woman took a seat, he had a general idea of where this was going and didn’t like it one bit.

"Peter, as I mentioned before, you are a minor and even though I still need to do a final check on you to officially release you from the hospital, once you are cleared out you can’t go live by yourself, so this woman here, she is in charge of social services in the hospital, so hear what she has to say and then we can arrange something from that."

"Hey Peter, my name is Rachel Forman and as Doctor Jackson just said I am in charge of social services. As you are aware, your aunt is incapable to take care of you at the moment. I also checked and you don’t have any living relatives. We don’t really know how long the situation with your aunt is going to last so I have to ask, Peter, is there someone we can call for you? So they can take temporal guardianship over you while your aunt is recovering?"

Okay, ouch. To be remembered that you literally have no one else in the world for you kinda hurt even if it was the truth. He was starting to feel nervous about this. He looked at Doctor Jackson who gave him an encouraging smile.

"Em… maybe? I mean I’m not sure, I have someone I can call but I… I don’t really… know? If they can?"

"Okay, well, this is what we are going to do, okay? You can call whoever it is that you have in mind for this and tell them about the situation, if they are willing to take care of you let me talk to them so I can arrange everything but if they can’t or if they won’t I will have to put you into a temporal foster home until your aunt has recovered completely and can take proper care of you again, deal?

"O… okay, I will call them now."

With that, both women left to give him some privacy, Doctor Jackson turned around and told him she would come back to check on him and he just nodded. He took out his cell phone that was retrieved from the crash and given to him by one of the nurses and started to go through his contact list.

He thought of calling Mr. Stark first but he was probably busy, he had mentioned the past weekend that Pepper was making him more present in the company, so he was forced to go to some meetings now and then, Peter saw the clock of the conference room and it was almost 3 pm and if Peter remembered correctly, he had one meeting in that exact moment so he called Happy instead.

It went to voicemail, as it normally did with Happy, even though after homecoming he was pretty sure Happy started to like him more, that didn’t necessarily mean he was going to answer every single call Peter made. He tried again, just to be safe and when it was clear the man was not going to answer he hung up.

Okay, not how he expected things to go. Mr. Stark was his last hope. Literally. He didn’t want to call him. He really didn’t. He played with his phone for a couple of minutes before deciding that maybe bothering the billionaire was worth it if he didn’t want to end up in foster care for god knows how long.

So he hit the call button. He was kinda nervous while it rang. What would happen if Mr. Stark didn’t answer? What was he going to do? The man cared for him, right? Even without Spiderman, they had become closer and closer. Peter hoped that Mr. Stark could come pick him up, that he would care enough to not leave him in foster care. While thinking that, the call went to voicemail. He stared at the screen of his phone. He kinda expected it but now he was out of options. The door opened to reveal Doctor Jackson, fortunately the social services lady was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Peter, I need you to come with me to your final check out and if everything is alright I can officially release you from the hospital" She said with a smile.

Now Peter would have rather stay in the hospital so he wouldn’t have to face foster care. Can you pretend to have an injury when you have accelerated healing? Not likely. Crap. He started walking with the doctor to whatever room he was going to be checked in and his face must have been of pain and misery because when then were alone in the room and she started to write things down, she asked in a really soft voice: " I’m guessing the phone call didn’t go the way you expected it to?"

Peter just stared at her and after a moment he answered: "Well, they didn’t even pick up, so… I didn’t have the chance to explain anything at all and now I have to go to…"

"Hey, Peter, foster care is not as awful as it sounds, I know it’s not ideal, I know you want to be with your aunt and for everything to be normal again but she is going to recover, I promise I will take good care of her so she can come safe and sound back to you, but in the meantime you are just going to have to let other people take care of you. Okay?"

Peter was lost in his thoughts and as much as he appreciated what Doctor Jackson had said to make him feel better, well, it wasn’t working.

"My sister actually works in a temporary foster home. Sometimes I send her some children who no longer have families, if you want to, I can talk to her to see if she can take you in while your aunt is recovering."

"Tha… thank you, Doctor Jackson, I would really appreciate it but you don’t have to do that for me, I mean, i…"

"Nonsense, Peter, don't worry about it. You are a really sweet and kind kid. I’m sure she will be thrilled to have you there, even temporally. I’m going to go prepare your release papers and go talk to Rachel to start arranging things, okay?"

A couple of hours later, he was on his way to his new foster home. They had stopped by his apartment to get some things packed. He took all his books and school things, some clothes and personal items and his Spiderman suit. He wasn’t particularly excited to go on patrol after everything that happened but it was better to have it with him than unguarded in the apartment.

There was a woman at the door when he got there, he assumed it was Doctor Jackson’s sister because of the family resemblance and it was later confirmed when she introduced herself.

"Hey Peter, I am Ally Jackson, Emily’s sister and this is my husband Louis. As you probably already know, this is a temporal foster home. Emily already explained your situation to me and you are welcome here for as long as you need to until your aunt has recovered, I know it is not the same as being with family but hopefully, you will feel at home here, eventually. We have another 4 kids, they are in the backyard and I’ll introduce them later. This is your room, you are sharing with Matt, he is 11 and kinda the closest to your age. If you have any questions we will be downstairs and anything you need you can tell us, okay?"

"Thank you, really Miss Jackson, I …"

"Please, call me Ally. Oh, and by the way, dinner is at 7:30, alright?"

"Okay, thank you, I really appreciate all of this."

When she left the room he started to unpack everything he brought. Well except his Spider suit, he was going to have to hide that somewhere else. He looked at the room he shared with another kid, and started thinking that maybe his situation could be worse. I mean, it was not ideal but it would have to do for now. How could his life have changed so much in so little time? It felt like just yesterday he was with his aunt on their way to get Thai food and now he is in foster care. Well, it was Tuesday evening so actually the crash had been yesterday.

Ally seemed to be really nice and so did her husband. He was relatively close to the hospital so he could visit May and he could take the subway to his school. Well, he would have to ask about his new routine in this new place and if there were rules? He hoped not, in case he needed to go out as Spiderman.

He checked the clock, it was 6:15. He still had over an hour for dinner and he was kinda tired. Maybe his healing was still working on keeping him fine so he went to sleep, he didn’t have anything else to do anyway, so he put his head in the pillow of the unfamiliar bed and started to dream about a house on fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can already tell, the dream of the house on fire is important. Tony will be in the next chapter and Peter will have some flashbacks.


	4. Lightning, memories.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had more important things to think about. First those dreams about a fire and now these flashbacks. It had to mean something, right? What could it possibly mean? Maybe aunt May knew something about it but he couldn’t really go and ask her. He needed to research about his past. He needed things to make sense. He needed an explanation to why this kept happening to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, Tony is finally in this chapter. Probably some things will make more sense now and if not, well, it will be explained later on.  
> Anyway, enjoy!

Tony Stark. Genius. Billionaire. Former Playboy. Philanthropist. Father.

It had been years since his son was taken away from him. Killed in a fire. A fucking fire. It was coincidentally the same day of his abduction in Afghanistan, he couldn’t have done anything. He wasn’t even in the country. He didn’t even know about it until after he returned home from his kidnapping, after creating Iron Man. He wanted to go see his son after all those months of thinking he would never see him again. And he wouldn’t. Because of a fire. They told him it was an accident. But after defeating Obadiah Stane, he had JARVIS go through all of his documents and communications to find anything shady that may be hidden in them.

That’s how he found out it wasn’t an accident that killed his son. It was a setup. Obadiah had sent an email in his name, telling Mary Fitzpatrick, Peter’s mother, of a little secret meeting to see Peter one last time before he went on the trip. She flew all the way from New York to California, where Tony lived. Obadiah even rented a little house for the fake meeting, told Mary that address and then probably paid someone to set it on fire. That way, he got rid of all the Starks and he would have the company all by himself, Tony thought.

Only a few amount of people knew about Peter. Besides Mary, Rhodey was being his best friend and Pepper being his assistant. Then JARVIS, who is an AI but that is all it took for Obadiah to find out about Peter. Tony still doesn’t know how he managed to hack into JARVIS without him noticing but hey, he also pretended to be his friend for years to send him off to his execution and steal his company from him.

That bastard didn’t only killed his son but made it look like an accident. For the rest of the world, Mary had died in a plane crash on her way to California with her kid and when he looked in the news and police reports of the fire, apparently it was said that it was an accident, that the house had been empty and that there were no mortal victims in the fire.

What a load of bullshit. Tony knew the truth. But what could he do about it? Obadiah was already dead. And so was his son. It ripped his heart knowing that Peter had been killed because of him, because being his father put him in danger. Tony didn’t think he would ever get over his son’s death.

Rhodey and Pepper knew this, they tried to comfort him but no matter what, he would always blame himself for what happened to his little Peter, he was only 4 years old. He wished he had more time with him. He wishes he had been there to protect him. The few years they shared together were some of his most precious memories, he only wishes he had more.

After many years, he met Peter Parker aka Spiderman. He kinda looked like his Peter, but it couldn’t be possible, even though the age would have been accurate, Tony never really thought much of it, he didn’t want to get his hopes up. His Peter was dead. Has been for the past 11 years. And just because they shared a name, it didn’t mean they were the same person.

Still, he felt a parental instinct take over whenever he was with Peter Parker. The only explanation he found logical was that he remembered him of his Peter, with those curious brown eyes that looked so much like his own. He tried to mentor him but ended up staying away, every time he looked at Peter, it felt like he was staring at his son.

When Peter said he wanted to be like him, after the whole ferry fiasco, he freaked out. Like a lot. Why would he want to be like him? He was a mess. Seriously. He should stay away. Then he took Peter’s suit and it almost got him killed in the fight with the Vulture. He offered him a spot in the Avengers, and the kid said no, well that was surprising. But he wanted to spend time with the kid. So he ended up with a teenager twice a month for lab time and training sessions.

He actually enjoyed it, he would never admit it to anyone but having Peter around made the death of his own Peter less hard on him. It made him feel like he was doing something right. Besides, he liked the kid, he was smart and for some reason he looked up to him. And he wanted to be worthy of that admiration.

  
\-----------------------------  


Foster home. He was in a temporary foster home because apparently you can’t live by yourself when you are 15 with no active guardian or responsible adult to take care of you.

Ally and her husband Louis were actually really nice. He asked about house rules but all they told him was that as long as he was home by 8:00 pm, there was no problem where he was going, they knew he had a scholarship at Midtown so he could keep going there, which was a big relief. He was a giant nerd so that probably helped his case of independence, he could say he was studying with a friend to explain why he wouldn’t be home early in case he was out as Spiderman or visiting his aunt. 

He kept thinking about Mr. Stark. He probably saw his missed phone calls, so why hadn’t he call him back? There was no way he could have known about May, right? Maybe he should call him again? Tell him about what happened? But what if he was too busy? There was a reason why he didn’t answer the calls. And if he really wanted to, Mr. Stark could probably just ask FRIDAY to hack something to find out what happened to him. So that was a problem for another day. For now he would just go to school, visit his aunt in the hospital, go on a short patrol as Spiderman and be in his foster home for dinner, he shouldn’t sneak out, he could do his homework after that, he would have to change his schedule a little to not be caught but it would only be a few days, or weeks, whatever, it wasn’t permanent. Just until aunt May was okay.

He went back to school on Thursday, he told Ned and MJ what happened, and as the amazing friends they were, told him May was really strong and it was only a matter of time before she was awake and healthy again. Finally, when he was free of school, he went to visit his aunt. Not much had changed but he still sat with her for a couple of hours, did his homework and prepared to go on patrol. That was pretty much his Friday too, on the weekend he got to be with Ned to start building some new Lego set and then the next week repeat everything again. Nothing much happened on patrol, but mostly because he didn’t want anything too big for now. He had a lot on his mind so Karen only told him about some easy and small crime scenes he could go in fast and simple.

Until Tuesday evening. It had been two weeks since the accident, Mr. Stark hadn’t called him yet and he was starting to think the man just didn’t care enough about him to wonder where he was. As long as he didn’t screw up as Spiderman that is. He was keeping his routine but it was getting exhausting and boring.

"Karen, i’m bored, I mean, I kinda promised myself I wouldn’t get involved in big things for now but nothing much has happened lately at school, or with May or in the city. Could you maybe look for something a little more serious? I need to keep my mind occupied or I’m going to go insane."

"Alright Peter. There is a burning building 5 blocks north from your current position. There are still families inside. The firefighters are trying but failing to get everyone out, mostly in the higher floors."

"Perfect."

It would be simple. Just get in the higher floors, get the people out, and leave the fire to the firefighters. Easy. The fire was starting to grow bigger but his way of getting people out was by swinging outside of the building, so the only real challenge was getting into the right windows where people were hiding from the fire. He hadn’t even stepped inside of the building for more than 10 seconds, he had been in and out, getting people out.

After maybe 15 minutes he thought he was done, he couldn’t hear anyone but still, his senses told him otherwise, a firefighter came to thank him and in that moment, his senses heard something. Or someone. It was a little girl. He ignored the firefighter and started climbing the building again. Listening for the voice of the little girl, he got to the floor where he thought she might be and found a window, got in the building and started looking for her.

Even though the fire could be worse, there was a lot of smoke coming from the wooden floor. The origin of the fire must be a floor beneath of where he was right now. The air was getting thinner, it was getting hotter and the fire was starting to make his way to where he was.

Suddenly, he wasn’t in that building anymore. He was in the house he had been dreaming about, everything was on fire. He was hiding in a corner, holding onto something in his hands, something soft, maybe a blanket? And something like a toy in his other hand, it looked like a robot. Someone was calling his name, but eventually, the screams stopped. There was a lot of smoke and he couldn´t breathe. He found an opened window, he climbed a desk to reach it and got out of the house. He felt to the ground. Hard. He reached for his blanket. He was crying, he was scared but he stood up and screamed

__

"Mom? Mommy where are you?"

__

A man came from behind him, holding a big plastic bottle with a yellow liquid on it -was that gasoline?- it was almost empty and he looked surprised, as if he hadn't expected for Peter or for anyone to be there at all.

__

"You… you were inside?"

__

"Ye… yes. And my mommy too."

__

The man looked shocked. And terrified "Oh my god, he told me… he told me the house would be empty! I didn’t think there would be anyone in there! What am I going to do?"

__

The sound of sirens brought him back to the present. He fell to his knees, catching his breath. He was really confused. He wasn’t sure of what he just experienced, it had never happened to him before, but that fire had somehow triggered it. It wasn’t the moment to stop and think about it either. He had to find the girl and get out of there, he needed to act fast.

"Karen, help me find her."

It was getting really hot in there, the smoke and the fire didn’t help him see much further but thankfully Karen was able to tell him where she was. He found her in what was probably her room, holding onto a teddy bear. He holds her in his arms, finds the nearest window and starts his way down.

When he is on the ground again, he is met by the firefighters and the little girl’s mother, they thank him over and over again and then he just swings home, he can’t stop thinking of what he just experienced. Was it a memory? Was it real? His parents were supposed to have died in a plane crash. So why would a fire make him go through that?

In all the stress of the fire, he forgot his phone in there. He was keeping it with him later on patrol just in case there was news about his aunt, but now he lost it. Great, now he would have to get a new one and change it in the hospital so they could reach him. Parker Luck.

He got to his foster home relatively early, said hi to Amy and Louis and the other 4 kids and had dinner with them, he kinda liked them but they weren’t his family, besides, he had more important things to think about. First those dreams about a fire and now these flashbacks. It had to mean something, right? What could it possibly mean? Maybe aunt May knew something about it but he couldn’t really go and ask her. He needed to research his past. He needed things to make sense. He needed an explanation to why this kept happening to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that happened.  
> 4 chapters in 1 day.  
> I really need help. And a life.  
> More Tony's POV in next chapters. He is obviouly worried about Peter but he is trying to hide it. You know how he is.  
> Thanks for reading!


	5. A fire that separated me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter had never ignored any of his calls. He always answered on the first or second ring. So for it to go to voicemail, well, it meant he was either upset with him for ignoring him for two weeks (which didn’t seem possible because, c’mon, it was Peter) or there was something really really wrong.

It was Wednesday morning and Peter hadn’t slept all night. He kept thinking of that dream, of that fire, of what it could mean. He was calling for his mom, maybe it did happen sometimes on his house and he was just remembering it? But he didn’t recognize the house and it didn’t explain the man at the end of it. Peter thought he was probably the one who set the house on fire, he was pretty sure what he saw in the bottle was gasoline but his mind could be tricking him. He was also holding onto something in the dream, he kinda remembered what it was, it was a blue blanket, with his name written on it and the toy, it was a robot his father had given him. But now that he thought about it, it wasn’t Richard the one who gave him the toy, he couldn’t remember his parents as much as he would like to, but when thinking about his mom, he would think of a kind smile and warm hugs; when he was thinking about his dad, he imagined brown eyes, hot chocolate and a lullaby in Italian? He wasn’t sure. 

He grew up with those little memories, assuming they were about Mary and Richard. He never questioned that, but now he was feeling like it wasn’t the truth. He had this feeling that there was someone else, not Richard, who he called dad. He was happy with him. But he couldn’t be sure. He didn’t know if it was even possible for Richard to not be his father. Maybe he was adopted? No, Uncle Ben and Aunt May would have told him, right? But when thinking about the word dad, Richard was not who he imagined.

He needed to go to the apartment and look for things of when he was little, maybe that would help him remember. And he could even find some of his birth certificates and other documents that would make everything make sense. But first, he had to go to school. Great.

When he went down stairs, Ally was making breakfast for all of them. She was actually a great cook and that only helped to miss his aunt burned cooking even more. He wasn’t going out as Spiderman today, or for a while, until he could find out more about his past so he was going to leave the suit with Ned, who didn’t have a roommate and that could hide it for a while in his house. He was planning on doing some research and he needed to focus on that.

“Hey, Ally, I was planning to go back to my apartment today after school, I need to pick some things up and then I will visit my aunt and then go to study with my friend Ned for the rest of the day, just so you know, since I lost my phone yesterday.”

“That’s fine Peter, thank you for giving me a heads up, maybe you can use some of the old phones in the garage for now, so that the hospital can contact you.”

“Really? Thank you, that would be great. Also, this week I have a couple of decathlon meetings after school because we kinda have a big competition in a couple of weeks.”

“That is great Peter! You must be really smart. Well, good luck on your day and I expect you home by dinner.”

Purposefully, Peter didn’t mention he had a “Stark Internship” that weekend, because as much as he loved to go to the lab with Mr. Stark, he didn’t want to bother the man. He hadn’t called him yet and he felt like he shouldn’t, he was in foster home already and there was nothing he could do about it. He was fine, Ally and Louis were great people and he just needed to focus on one thing. Explaining those dreams he kept having. That fire. That fire that separated him from his mom. Or at least he thought so. Nothing made a lot of sense, which is why he needed answers.

  
\-----------------------------  


Tony was worried. He hadn’t heard of Peter in a while. Apart from the phone call from the kid on a Tuesday a couple of weeks ago, there had been nothing.

He was at a meeting when he was going to answer the call. It was Peter so maybe it was important, or maybe he wanted to talk about his patrol. But it was barely 3 pm so he was probably just out of school and wanted to check-in. Anyway he was bored out of his mind on that meeting and was about to answer the call but Pepper was looking at him with that look that said –it better be life or death situation if you are going to leave this meeting- so Tony asked FRIDAY to check on Peter’s vitals. Everything seemed okay. His pulse was a little elevated but nothing for it to be dangerous so he had to send it to voicemail. He would call the kid later.

He forgot to call him back. He was working on reading the Accords. Change some things. Working on getting the others pardoned. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of his time. When he wasn’t on a meeting for SI, or at a conference with the UN or working on some new prototype, he had time to worry about Peter. The kid didn’t leave any voicemails about his patrol which was weird for him, but Karen said he wasn’t doing anything too dangerous so he let it be. Besides, if there was a serious problem, May would call him, right?

It was Wednesday, and he hadn’t talked to Peter in almost two weeks and now he felt guilty. He was supposed to go to the compound on Friday but Tony was starting to freak out so he decided to call him, try to make it look like he was just casually checking in to confirm their lab time and not internally dying of worry. He waited for Peter to answer. It rang for a while and then it went to voicemail. 

What the fuck. 

Peter had never ignored any of his calls. He always answered on the first or second ring. So for it to go to voicemail, well, it meant he was either upset with him for ignoring him for two weeks (which didn’t seem possible because, c’mon, it was Peter) or there was something really really wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter is not ignoring Tony. He just lost his phone.  
> Chapter 6 is on the way. Is longer and has a lot of explanations in it.


	6. They want me to find my truth.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First things first. He needed to talk with Peter. He was really worried now. So his best bet was his best friend. Ted. Or something like that. Maybe he was with him. So he tracked the suit again and started to head towards this kid’s house. But what about May? Maybe Happy could find something in their apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some answers!!

“So, you are telling me you’ve been having these dreams of a house on fire, you are not sure if they are memories or whatever, you are suspecting that Richard was not actually your dad but someone else was and yesterday you went to a building on fire and had some weird flashback in which you were screaming for your mom?”

“Well, yeah, pretty much Ned, and I don’t know what to do about it. I mean, I barely remember anything about my parents, so all of this could just be in my head, but, I’m not sure, and I want to find out so I’m going to do some research about my parents so I need you to hide my suit for a while. I won’t be going out as Spiderman until I figure this out and my foster home is not the best place to hide it because there are 4 kids in there. Also, I keep having these flashbacks and I need to know what they mean.”

“This is the coolest thing ever!!! Peter, I will protect this suit with my life, now I am its guardian but DUDE, you are like a detective, your life is so exciting! I mean, sure you have a lot of doubts, and questions, and not a lot of ways to get answers but I will help you with anything I can and just I will be there for you.”

"Thanks, Ned, you are the best guy in the chair”

“You know it. Now, where are you going to begin?”

“I’m going back to the apartment, to look in the storage room to try and find some things from my parents or from my childhood or even maybe papers and documents, I don’t know, anything that could help me.”

“Do you want me to go with you? I can help you look if you want to”

“Sure Ned, I could use a hand, thank you”

“Hey losers, what are you talking about”

“MJ, hey, hi, MJ, how… how are you?”

“I’m fine but you look like you’ve seen a ghost, are you okay?”

“I’m great, but uh hey, MJ, please don’t kill me, I may not be able to go to the decathlon practice this week”

“And why would that be?”

“I need to do some research. Some very important research. About something important?”

“Right. And you can’t tell me anything about it”

“Nope, I’m sorry, I promise I will study everything later with Ned, he can catch me up on everything you do”

“You are on thin ice Parker. Thin ice” And then she just left.

“Dude, you are totally into her, why won’t you go to decathlon?”

“Because Ned, I need answers and I’m not going to get them in those practices, besides, I do not like MJ”

“Yeah, right, could have fooled me”

After the final period, Peter and Ned went to the apartment. It was a little dusty but it had been empty for two weeks without anyone to clean it up. The storage room was locked so Peter might have used his super strength to open the door. So far, Peter managed to find a couple of family albums, the blue blanket he had on the dream, a broken robot toy and a locked metal box that probably needed a key.

He was almost shocked to find the blanket and the robot, because both items were in his dream so maybe it meant something. The blanket was just like he remembered it to be, it had his name written on a corner and was probably from when he was a baby. The robot had a broken arm but it was pretty much it good state, he knew he loved playing with it when he was little but couldn’t really remember how he broke it.

Ned was looking through the family albums, he kept going back and forth, staring at the photos as if something didn’t make sense.

“Hey Ned, what did you find?”

“Nothing, really, I’m just comparing these photos of you and your parents, and Richard doesn’t look like you at all. I mean, he was blonde with green eyes and you are, well, brunet with brown eyes.”

“I have seen those pictures before but i never really noticed that. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, I mean, I could have gotten my eyes from my mom.”

"Well, yeah, but look at this photo, they both have light eyes, green for Richard and blue for Mary.”

Peter took the album from Ned, trying to get a better look at the photo, when a piece of paper fell from it. He looked at Ned and then the letter. Peter opened it without hesitation and started to read:

_Hey little Peter, my beautiful boy.  
This letter is just in case something happens to Mary and me. It is not how we planned to tell you everything you need to know about yourself but if you are reading this, it means we cannot tell you ourselves and this will have to do for now. _

_Mary and I were planning on getting married but we had a fight and we had broken up. When I went looking for her almost a month later to apologize I found out she was pregnant, with you. I was honestly in shock and she told me she was planning on raising you on her own, it didn’t matter if the father was in or out of the picture, she wanted to have you._

_I’m not really your biological father Peter. But i love her, no matter what, so I told her that I still wanted to marry her and raise the kid as our own. Eventually, she told me that the biological father actually wanted to be involved too. I wasn’t thrilled about it but she told me he had the right to know his son, and she was right._

_She never told me who he was, said it needed to be kept a secret because it would be dangerous for you, for us. Your father was aware I existed and that she was married to me, but I don’t think she ever told him any details about me. Mary tried to keep our worlds separated._

_You visited him twice a month, mostly on the weekends, you always came back smiling and with a new toy or gift. Mary kept traveling from New York to California. That is all she ever told me but I think there is more to the story. It has been like that for the last 4 years. Now she is gone again, she said something about a last-minute trip and I feel like I need some sort of explanation to whatever is happening. I am planning on going to California to follow you both, and ask for some answers._

_I’m probably writing this for me more than for you but still, i will leave this letter hidden just in case. I know most of this is really cryptic and probably won’t make any sense. Hopefully you won’t have to read this without any context, I don’t know a lot of the answers myself, but I’m trying to get them.  
I love you, Peter. _

Peter sat there in shock. He read the letter over and over again. He couldn’t believe it. Richard Parker was not really his father. So technically, Uncle Ben and Aunt May weren’t related to him. He wasn’t a Parker. Richard probably died after that, Mary too, his parents died when he was 4. Ned was talking to him but he blocked everything out. He took the letter, the locked metal box and headed out of the apartment through a window.

He stayed on a nearby rooftop for what felt like hours. He didn’t know what to think. His entire life had been a lie. He was looking for answers but he never thought this would actually happen. Who was his biological father then? Why did his mother kept it a secret from everyone? He looked at the metal box in his hand. Maybe there were more answers there. 

He broke the lock and opened the box. There was an address and a couple of papers about a plane crash, when he read them, he realized they were about the plane crash in which his parents died. It said they left from New York to California and the plane never made it there. But that didn’t make sense. If what Richard said was true, then he wouldn’t have been on the same plane as Mary, how could they have died in the same accident? And how was Peter still alive?

He looked at the address on the other paper. It was located in New York, actually in Queens, so he got up and started to walk to find that address. Peter didn’t know what he expected to find, he didn’t even know what he was going to say once he got there but it looked like any other house on the block. So he just knocked and waited. 

And old woman opened the door, he didn’t recognize her and he didn’t really know what to say, finally she talked: “Can I help you?”

“I… Well, I don’t really know, it’s just that, i found this box? With this address on it and I’m kinda looking for some answers about my parents and it lead me here, but I’m not really sure what here is, so…” He started rambling, as he did when he was nervous. 

“Oh, your parents, you say? Well, this used to be a child services house, where some missing kids ended up until their families could get them, come on in, maybe I can help you”

Getting into a stranger’s house was probably not the best idea, but Peter needed answers and maybe this lady had them and his senses weren’t really warning him of anything so he just followed her.

“What is your name dear, maybe if you were here, your name will be on these old files somewhere”

“Uh Peter. Peter Parker.”

They went to a room that looked like a library that was full of documents and files and carpets. The woman started to look through the P and after a couple of minutes, she started to read a file with his name on it. 

“It has been a while since I went through any of these things, no one had come looking for any information in a while, mostly the kids here found their families and that was it. Okay, so Peter Parker. It says in here that your parents died in a plane crash on their way to California, you weren’t with them, but someone in California found you, took you to child services and they sent you here, where your Uncle Benjamin Parker picked you up.”

“Wait, what? I was already in California? How? That doesn’t make sense. “

“I don’t know dear, that is what it says in here, take a look”

Peter started reading that report. He was found in California, the only things he had were his blanket and a broken toy, he was left in the door of the child services house, and they never knew who left him there. He said he was Peter Parker, then they sent him to New York where his uncle and aunt picked him up and that was it. If you asked Peter, it was a pretty sloppy report, he didn’t think all the information on it was complete but apparently it was enough for anyone to not ask questions. 

The woman must have seen his confusion because after a while she said: “Listen, Peter? I can look through all these papers to see if I can find something else, okay? If I do, how can i contact you?”

He didn’t have his phone so he gave Ned’s instead, he thanked the lady and left the house. He went to his foster home and Ally welcomed him. 

“Hey Peter, how was your day? I thought you were going to be late today, you know, with your visit to your aunt and to your apartment and your friend.”

"Ally, hi, it’s just that, I don’t feel well, could I maybe, skip school tomorrow? I promise I’m not sick or anything, I’m just not feeling alright."

Ally had never seen Peter so pale and he hadn’t even asked anything from her, so she said yes and that if he needed anything, he just had to call her. 

Peter needed to think. This was just another piece of the puzzle. A lot of this didn’t make sense. So Richard Parker wasn’t really his father, someone else was and he didn’t have any idea who it might be. Then in his dreams, he was with his mom in a house on fire, apparently he made it out alive but by the looks of it, his mom didn’t. Richard went after his mom to California but he never made it there, therefore, the plane crash. But if his mother didn’t die on the plane crash but on the house on fire, how has he still alive? Why didn’t the police say something? He was told both his parents died on the plane crash. Why would they lie? What were they hiding? And who found him and took him to child services back in California? Whoever it was, they must know something. He needed to find who it was. 

  
\-----------------------------  


Tony tried locating Peter's phone but it said it was in some random building in Queens. Maybe he left it there on patrol. For a genius kid, Peter could be really oblivious sometimes. Now track the suit. It was on his friend’s house, Fred? Ted? Something like that. Now he was worried. He tried calling May but she didn’t answer either. Now he was close to a panic attack. What happened? Why wasn’t Peter or his aunt picking up his calls?

“FRIDAY, I need you to look for anything related to Peter Parker and May Parker in the last few weeks. I need you to find them. And while you are at it, call Happy”

“Hey boss, what do you need?”

“Happy, have you heard from Peter or his aunt in the last few weeks?”

“Uh, not really. He hasn’t left any of those really annoying messages about his patrol, which is weird but I’m not complaining. He called me a couple of weeks ago, but I was working with security so I couldn’t answer him. If it was serious he probably would have called you.”

Oh fuck. _If it was serious he probably would have called you._ That was bad. Peter HAD called him. On a Tuesday. Two weeks ago. Probably after Happy. Whatever was going on, it was not good.

“Shit, Hap, I need you to go to the kid’s apartment. See if his aunt or Peter are in there, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Alright, I’m on my way. What is going on?"

“I don’t know. Call me when you get there”. With that, he hung up.

“Boss, I have found in a local newspaper in Queens a report about a car accident on Monday night, the day before Mr. Parker called you. It doesn’t say any names but it explains the victims were an aunt and his nephew.”

Oh shit. He needed to breathe. He was close to a panic attack. Not Peter. Please let him be alright. I can’t lose him too. But wait. The baby monitor protocol. Yes. He started to calm down. Peter had been patrolling the past couple of weeks, that meant, he had to be okay, or at least, alive. He could work with that. 

“FRIDAY, connect to Karen, show me the latest baby monitor files.”

The last video was from yesterday, a little past 4 pm and it showed Peter saving people from a building on fire. Tony was not the greatest fan on fires, and he wanted Peter to get out of there before he had an actual panic attack but while watching through the video, there was a moment where Peter just stopped, like he was thinking or remembering something, he started to breathe really fast and the all of a sudden he was back to normal, looking for someone, then he found a little girl and went home. Except, the place he went to was not his apartment in Queens, It was some other house he had never seen before.

That was strange. He didn’t know the specifics. He just knew they were potentially in a car accident. Was Peter alright? And May? He was going through all kinds of scenarios in his head and he didn’t like any of them. He needed to find Peter now. How could have he been so blind? Two weeks. The kid had been in a car accident, called him the next day and Tony had ignored him for two weeks, being busy with god knows what. 

First things first. He needed to talk to Peter. He was really worried now. So his best bet was his best friend. Ted. Or something like that. Maybe he was with him. So he tracked the suit again and started to head towards this kid’s house. But what about May? Maybe Happy could find something in their apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony is finally looking for Peter.  
> Peter is getting some answers but he is mostly confused.  
> There might be a reunion next chapter?


	7. There still a long way to go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter woke up from his dream. He hadn’t recalled any of that before. He didn’t even know he knew that before. Were they dreams or were they memories? He couldn’t really tell at this point. It was the same dream but now he remembered more details. It was as if the more he investigated about his past, the more he unlocked his memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter's dreams might hold the answer to everything  
> Even if he doesn't know it yet.  
> Tony's part of the story is important too but we will get to that later.  
> For now, enjoy chapter 7

When Tony got to this Ned Leeds house, he was expecting some answers about Peter. What he got was a fanboy screaming his name the moment he opened the door.

“You are Tony Stark. Tony Stark is in my house. Tony Stark is sitting on my couch. Oh my god!”

“You are Ned, right? Listen, you can freak out about this later, first I need you to tell me what is going on with Peter, where is he, is he alright?”

“With Peter? What do you mean what is going on with Peter? You mean with his aunt? Or wait, did you found out about his parents? WAIT no this is about the accident, right?”

“Okay, what? Let’s start at the beginning. He was with me on the compound on Sunday, then he left and I never heard from him again and now he is not picking up his phone and neither is his aunt. FRIDAY told me that they might have been in an accident? But I know nothing for sure and I need some answers”

“Oh wow, well yeah, basically on Monday night Peter and May had a car accident, from what Peter told me, he felt it coming with his Spidey sense right and tried to shield May from it so he took the worse of the crash and then he woke up the next day in the hospital and he was mostly healed because of his super healing right, but apparently May had a head injury and even though she is stable, she is still unconscious, so since Peter doesn’t have any living family left I think he tried to call Mr. Happy and you but you didn’t answer so he went to a temporal foster family and has been there ever since. He has also tried to be Spiderman but after the building on fire on Tuesday, he said he needed some time to figure some things out? So he left the suit with me and he lost his phone so that is probably why you haven’t been able to reach him, but he is fine, I mean, mostly fine, he is still going to school and everything, but emotionally? I think he is going through a lot."

Tony’s mind was trying to catch up to everything that kid had said. So they were in a car accident, they were both injured, Peter was fine but May was not, Peter tried to call him and he didn’t answer and now he was in foster care? WHAT? He needed to do something. Like yesterday.

“Okay kid, do you know where this foster house thing is? I need to get to Peter, I can’t leave him there.”

“Ah, Mr. Stark? I have no idea where it is or who he is staying with. Peter never told me. He doesn’t really like talking about foster home, he misses May so I just let him be. He is going through a lot.”

In that moment, he got a call from Happy, he said goodbye to the kid and left to answer it.

“Happy, please give me something”

“Boss? Their apartment is like abandoned, there is dust everywhere and it doesn’t seem like anyone was lived here for a while. I asked around and they told me the kid and his aunt were in a car crash? And they haven’t really come back”

That didn’t tell him anything. He already knew that. What he needed right now was to find the kid. Maybe the hospital could tell him. Or the baby monitor feed. Or maybe he could pick him up from school. He didn’t have to stalk him, right? Boundaries are good. No matter how he needed to find his kid. Now.

“Happy, tomorrow, I need you to pick up the kid from school, I need to talk to him”

  
\-----------------------------  


Peter kept having more dreams. 

He was with his mom. Getting inside of an unfamiliar house. He started to run towards the backyard, he wanted to play. His mom was calling someone’s name, not his but maybe his father’s? Could it be? They stayed there a couple of minutes, his mom watching him play with the robot. Something smelled funny. She was in the living room with a smile on her face but then she must have noticed the smell too because the smile faded from her face and she turned around when she heard something. Then the fire. Suddenly the house was on fire. His mother was screaming his name. He was scared. He tried to look for her but never found her. He found the window. Climbed a desk to reach it. Maybe his mom was already outside. He got out of the house holding his blanket and his robot. When he landed on the ground, he saw his robot’s arm was broken. He started to cry. He wanted his mom. He stood up and screamed

“Mom? Mommy where are you?”

A man came from behind him, the same from the last dream, holding the plastic bottle with the yellow liquid on it, it was almost empty and he looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected for Peter or for anyone to be there at all. 

"You… you were inside?"

"Ye… yes. And my mommy too. "

The man looked shocked. And terrified -"Oh my god, he told me… he told me the house would be empty! I didn’t think there would be anyone in there! What am I going to do?"

Peter was crying. His mom wasn’t calling for him anymore. He was scared. The man carried him away. Asked him his name. He said he was Peter Parker and then he took him to some house he didn´t recognize. He had his blue blanket and broken robot. He was still crying. The man left him there, turned around and never came back. Then he was back in New York with his uncle and aunt. He never saw his parents again.

Peter woke up from his dream. He hadn’t recalled any of that before. He didn’t even know he knew that before. Were they dreams or were they memories? He couldn’t really tell at this point. It was the same dream but now he remembered more details. It was as if the more he investigated about his past, the more he unlocked his memories. 

At least he didn’t have to go to school today. Thank god. It was Thursday? He needed time. He needed to think. Nothing made sense. He was really confused. He thought of Aunt May. Did she know he was not Richard’s son? What would happen to him? And what about his biological dad? Didn’t he care to look for him? And then there was Mr. Stark. He lost his phone so he couldn’t reach the man but he still felt as if he didn’t care for him. He had no one. All his family was dead. He still had aunt May, he needed her. But she wasn’t there right now and he felt lonely. He started to feel tears in his eyes and just wanted everything to go back to how it was before. 

  
\-----------------------------  


Happy had been waiting for the kid for the last 15 minutes. When it was clear the kid didn’t even go to school, as his friend Ned told him, he called Tony.

“Boss, his friend Ned just told me he didn’t show up to school today. He is not here”

“Shit, okay thanks Hap, guess I’m gonna have to stalk him now, huh”

“How are you going to find him?”

“With Karen. The baby monitor protocol. To try and calculate the address of the foster house he has been into these past few weeks.”

And with that he started to work. He had to talk with the kid. Get him out of the foster system. Take him to the compound with him. Finally, after a couple of tries, he found what he was looking for.

“Ally Jackson and Louis Mayhem. Married couple. They are in charge of a temporal foster home for children. Currently fostering 5 kids. Peter Parker is among them.”

“Thank you Fri, send the address to my suit, I need to talk now with the kid. Also send Happy there, to pick us up”

“Sure thing Boss.”

He got there in 20 minutes. He knocked on the door and a woman, probably Ally, was it?, answered the door. 

“Hey, you must be Ally? You are in charge of the foster home?”

“I am. May I ask why are you here? I mean, you are Tony Stark.”

“Yes, the thing is you are currently fostering Peter Parker? He is an intern of mine, in Stark Industries, and it wasn’t until recently that I found out about the accident with his aunt, I would like to speak with him”

“Oh, sure thing. He is in his room, I will get him for you”

At the end, it wasn’t necessary. Peter was already in the stairs. He probably heard the Iron Man suit and Tony’s voice so when Tony finally saw him, he released a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Peter.”

“Hey, uuh hi Mr. Stark”

“I will give you too a minute to talk, alright? I will be in the kitchen if you need me.“ Ally said.

Peter looked exhausted, like he had been crying all day and tried to hide it, but Tony knew him. He liked to pretend everything was fine when it wasn’t. So he just grabbed Peter and hugged him. It was to comfort the kid but also himself. He had Peter in his arms now. He was alive. He was fine. He could work with that.  
Peter pulled away from the hug, which was strange for him but Tony didn’t question it, instead, he guided Peter to the couch of the living room and they both sit there, neither of them really knew what to say.

Finally, Tony couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Peter, I’m so sorry. I know you called me and that I didn’t answer when you needed me and I don’t know how to make it up to you. I just found out yesterday because of your friend Ned because apparently he has your suit? Why is that by the way? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The point is that I should have been there for you Peter and I’m sure your aunt will be okay, but why didn’t you call me again? If it was this serious, you should have called me more than once, why didn’t you?”

“I… I didn’t want to bother you. I mean, I know you are really busy, and you have a lot of other things to do and I tried calling Happy too but since neither of you answered I just… assumed? I didn’t, I mean… I didn’t want to be a bother.”

Peter was confused. Not only because of the recent discoveries he had made about his parents but also, why was Tony here? He had heard the Iron Man suit and thought he was imagining it, but then, Mr. Stark’s voice sounded in the house and now the man was in front of him?

“Kid. Peter. Look at me. You would never be a bother. I, well… god, I’m not good with emotions but, kid, i… I care about you and if I had known sooner I would have been there for you. From now on i will be, if you let me…?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if you want to, you can come with me. No more foster home. Maybe we can even arrange something for your aunt to be at the compound. How does that sound?”

“I thought… I didn’t think you would care, when you didn’t answer i thought I was going to be sent to foster care and without my aunt I would be all alone and…”

“Hey Peter, no, don’t ever think that again. I’m here. I’m sorry it took so long for me to realize what was going on, now what do you say we get out of here”

There was something about Peter, Tony noticed. He had this look in his eyes. A look he knew a little too well. Like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Something was bothering him but he couldn’t tell what it was. He would find out, later, but first, he needed to take his kid home.

He talked with Ally and arranged everything to be Peter’s temporary guardian, until his aunt recovered. He would talk to the hospital later about the possibility to transfer her. But for now, Peter was in his arms, at that is all he wanted for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!! Tony and Peter reunion. From now on, all the chapters will develop their relationship and i'm really excited for that. I love them.  
> Obviously no one knows about their biological connection just yet but eventually they will both start realizing some things


	8. Stories that I did not know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His first instinct was to run. The kid would be better off without him. He couldn’t be a dad. But after thinking about it, he realized he couldn’t live with the thought of having a son and not knowing him. Not being there for him. Like Howard was never there for him. So he made a promise. He would take care of his son. He would be involved in his life. He would be what his father never was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay we have a little bit of a throwback here from Tony’s POV. Tony and Peter are finally together!!

Tony Stark’s son was his biggest secret. Tony never meant to be a father, how could he? After having a father like Howard Stark, it was only natural for Tony to feel like he couldn’t be dad material. Then, Mary Fitzpatrick happened. One night. One single night and everything changed. She came to him a couple of weeks later to tell him she was pregnant. She didn’t want anything from him, she just wanted to let him know. 

His first instinct was to run. The kid would be better off without him. He couldn’t be a dad. But after thinking about it, he realized he couldn’t live with the thought of having a son and not knowing him. Not being there for him. Like Howard was never there for him. So he made a promise. He would take care of his son. He would be involved in his life. He would be what his father never was. 

He told Mary he wanted the kid, wanted to be a father and she just smiled. They went to doctor’s appointments together, with him wearing a disguise. After 3 months they told him it was a boy. Tony was really happy. He was going to have a son. He would be a father. He was really nervous but excited at the same time. He couldn’t wait to meet his baby boy.

Mary said they should keep it a secret for a while. She was working as an agent for an organization Tony never knew the name of and Tony was CEO of one of the biggest weapons industries in the world, so he had to agree on that. Better keep him a secret to protect him. He only told Rhodey who congratulated him and told him he would be the fun uncle, and eventually, Pepper, when he couldn’t really hide it since she was his personal assistant, but he trusted her anyway. Mary also told him she was going to get married. Never told him to who. Not even his name. It’s not like Tony cared about her romantic life, but he would have liked to know who else would be living with his son.

A few months later, on August 10, 2004, Peter James Stark was born. That was his legal name anyway, on his official birth certificate, but Mary covered it up with a fake name just for appearances, to be safe. 

Tony got to be there for 4 beautiful years of his son’s life. His Peter. His life was still busy as CEO of SI and between creating weapons and being in board meetings, he didn’t have much free time. But he always had time for his baby boy. Sometimes Mary would fly all the way from New York to California. Some other times, Tony would be the one traveling to New York. Some other times, Mary left Peter with him, to spend some holidays together. Tony loved it. He would have rather to live with his son and be 24/7 there for him, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to keep him away from the mess that was his life. 

He knew his son had a fake last name, he couldn’t very well go around New York saying he was Peter Stark. He assumed Mary used her own last name, Fitzpatrick, to hide their kid form the public. He hoped to change that one day, when Peter was older. But for now, he would have to live with Peter on the other side of the country, getting some visits now and then.

Until Obadiah found out about him. He sent Tony to Afghanistan to get him killed and Peter and Mary to California to that house to set it on fire.

Tony didn’t do enough for his Peter. But he was going to make sure Peter Parker would have everything he needed. After picking him up from that foster home, saying goodbye to everyone there and getting Peter to the compound, he could at least breathe easier knowing he finally had his eyes on the kid, now he knew he would be fine. 

But there was still something Peter was not telling him. They talked on their way to the compound about those last few weeks, about May and about school. The kid was talking a mile per minute like he usually did when he was excited, but then, literally out of nowhere, it was like he remembered something, he stopped talking and started to stare quietly out the window, deep in thought.

Tony was concerned, there was something clearly on the boy’s mind but he didn’t know what it could be. 

  
\-----------------------------  


He had visited Aunt May earlier that day. Doctor Jackson said she had even opened her eyes for 5 seconds the night before. It wasn’t much, but it was progress. She was getting better. And hopefully soon, she would wake up. 

Just when his world was falling apart and after everything he thought he knew was revealed to be a lie, Tony found him. Tony was there for him. He said goodbye and thank you to Ally and her family, they were really nice to him but now he wanted to be around familiar faces more than ever. He was really glad Mr. Stark took the time to look for him. To be worried about him. It made him feel wanted. 

But since Aunt May wasn’t there with him, it was nice to have someone who cared for you. So on their way to the compound, Peter talked and talked about these past few weeks with Tony, obviously not telling him about what he found out about his parents, that was a little too personal, but for the rest, he talked about Aunt May and her improvements at the hospital. He talked about some of his patrols as Spiderman, without mentioning the building on fire, that’s is when he suddenly remembered everything he discovered in the last couple of days; he needed to find the man of the fire, maybe he knew something. Or what about his birth certificate, maybe his biological father was on it. If only he knew where he could get those answers.

He didn’t notice Tony’s look on him while he stared out the window. 

  
\-----------------------------  


When they arrived at the compound, Peter thanked him and went straight to his room. The one he always used when he was spending time there. He had the bag he brought with him from the foster home, with what Tony imagined were some of his clothes and belongings, but what was weird is that he was holding onto a piece of paper. It looked like a letter but Tony wasn’t sure. He needed to ask the kid about it. Actually, he needed to have a long and honest talk about what was going on with the kid. 

He went to the kid’s room and found him looking at that paper again, he wanted to ask about it but he should give the kid some time to adjust to everything, he needed to start a conversation with him.

“Hey Pete, you must be hungry, with that metabolism of yours, what about some pizza?”

“Oh, hey Mr. Stark” He took the letter and put it in one of his notebooks. “Yeah, I could eat, pizza would be great”

“Okay kid, by the way I left there in your bed a new phone for you, with all your old contacts and everything, just don’t lose it or I will actually lose my mind.”

“Thank you, Mr. Stark. You really didn’t have to”

“Yeah, your welcome kid, now, come here, we need to talk.”

“About what?” He said, following Mr. Stark out of the room.

“About whatever it is that has you so worried. I know you, Pete, something is bothering you.”

“Oh, well, uh it’s just… everything with Aunt May, really has me stressed out”

“You are a terrible liar kid”

“It’s not technically a lie, i am worried about her, you know”

“Okay, but you are evading the question. Something _else_ has you worried, what is it? You know you can trust me, kid.”

Peter knew he could trust Mr. Stark. He also knew the man would ask him about it until he said the truth. But he didn’t feel ready to talk about this with anyone just yet. He needed to know the whole story before bringing it up at all so he just said a partial truth, hoping Mr. Stark would let it be.

“It’s just, after everything that happened with May, i kinda found out some things that don’t make a lot of sense to me about my family and I’m doing some research? To find some of the answers and I’m just a little confused about what I have discovered so far… I mean, it’s nothing bad! I promise Mr. Stark, just confusing but is something I need to do for myself, you know?”

“Okaaaay, if you say so kid, but if you told me maybe I could help you?”

“Really it’s fine Mr. Stark. Thanks, but i’m good”

“Well, if you need anything at all, just tell me, promise?”

“I promise Mr. Stark”

It looked like Mr. Stark wanted to keep asking him about it, but he let him be, at least for now.

“Alright. What are you thinking about school? I mean, Happy could drive you there tomorrow, but it is a bit of a trip so…”

“Actually, Mr. Stark, I was wondering if maybe I could not go to school tomorrow?”

“What? Why? Kid, you already skipped school today”

“How do you know that”

“Because I was crazy looking through the whole city for you! Why don’t you want to go to school?”

“It’s about that research I told you about? It’s kinda personal and I need to find someone”

“Find someone? Kid, please tell me this isn’t about some bad guy you found as Spiderman”

“What? No! Actually, it has nothing to do with Spiderman, it’s something entirely different. I won’t be going as Spiderman at all. Besides, Ned has my suit. "

“Okay, now I’m even more worried. Why aren’t you going out as Spiderman? I thought you loved it”

“I do Mr. Stark. I really do. But for now, I need to find the answers I was telling you about? By myself? Please, trust me Mr. Stark is nothing bad, I’m not in trouble. I just need to do this”

“I do trust you kid, but I don’t want you skipping school for whatever investigation you have going on”

“It’s worth it Mr. Stark. Really. When I have some more answers, I will tell you all about it but for now…”

“Okay, okay, but if your Aunt kills you for skipping school while she was at the hospital, I hope you take the blame for it, and not me”

“Thank you Mr. Stark”

“Yeah, okay. Just promise me if you need any help, at all, you will ask for it. 

“I will, don’t worry”

 _All I do is worry about you kid._ He thought. “Okay, by the way, Rhodey will be coming by tomorrow morning, just in case you run into him. And Happy can take you wherever your little expedition is, but now it’s kinda late so why don’t you go to sleep?”

“It’s not really that late but I need to talk to Ned anyways so… goodnight Mr. Stark”

“Good night kid.”

When he got to his room, he took the new phone Mr. Stark had left for him, it did had all of his information already on it. He hadn’t been to school today and he wasn’t going tomorrow and he needed to talk with his best friend. Ned answered on the second ring.

“Peter!! What is going on with you? I mean, yesterday Tony Stark showed up at my door asking for you!! And I had no idea where you were!! And he had no idea what had happened to you!! And then today you didn’t show up at school and then Happy was there to pick you up but obviously you weren’t there so…”

“Ned, calm down, I’m fine, relax…”

Peter told Ned everything that had happened, how Tony Stark went to find him in his foster home and how he was living with the man now. Ned was freaking out at the fact he was temporarily living in the Avengers Compound, even though he occasionally stayed there some weekends anyway. Then, Ned told him that when Peter left the apartment, after reading the letter, he had taken home with him the blanket and the robot, just in case Peter needed them, and for it to not be in the empty apartment. 

That reminded Peter that he hadn’t told Ned what he found out on Richard’s letter. Or in the address he visited in Queens. He was going to tell him, eventually, but not over the phone, and not on a place where certain AI could hear what he was saying. So he just mentioned that he gave Ned’s number to a person with potential answers about his past. That seemed to make Ned remember something.

“Dude, actually, whoever this person is, she already called me, today during lunch. I didn’t know who she was or what she wanted, when I answered she just said she had found something and to tell you to go visit her as soon as you could, I was really confused and didn’t know what she meant, but now I guess it’s important?”

“Ned!! Of course, it’s important!! I’m going there tomorrow. Who knows what she could have found!”

“I don’t know but you seriously need to tell me everything that is going on, okay? I need an update on your life, man” 

“I will tell you everything Ned, okay? Eventually.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter is a little bit closer to the truth but still doesn't have all the answers.  
> Tony is just confused with Peter's behaviour but he will figure it out, someday.  
> I already have chapter 9 and 10 written, just editing some final details...


	9. In my heart I will always keep a place in case i find you again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now he was really curious about it, so he just thanked her and went to Ned’s house for his things. He wasn’t planning on going out as Spiderman just yet, but now that he was living with Mr. Stark, he didn’t need to hide his suit. Then, he went to his room in his apartment to read this new letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, i'm trying to explain this thing as best as i can, i hope it makes sense.

Peter woke up around 9 am, he took a quick shower and then headed to the kitchen to find Mr. Stark drinking coffee on the counter.

“Hey kid, good morning, I made breakfast”

“Wow, Mr. Stark, this is great. I didn’t know you could cook”

“Well I’m no master chef but I can do something decent, how do you think I survived all this time?”

“Honestly? Take out and Pepper”

“Okay, fair point”

“Where is she, by the way? Does she know I’m here?”

“Yeah kid, she knows, but she is currently dealing with some meetings in DC. She will be back on Monday though”

They kept eating in comfortable silence until Mr. Stark got up.

“Alright kid, I am going to the lab to finish some projects that needed to be done like last week and Happy will be waiting for you outside in 10 minutes to take you to the city. Just stay out of trouble and call me to check in. Okay?”

“Okay Mr. Stark, I will be fine”

“Maybe when you come back we can work on something in the lab”

“That would be awesome Mr. Stark”

“Why can’t you treat me like Pepper and call me by my name? It’s Tony. I feel old with the Mr.”

“I don’t know. Mr. Stark suits you better”

“If that was your way of calling me old, I am going to ignore it. Good bye kid, I expect to hear about your research thing soon, I want a full update” And with that he left to the lab.

Peter finished his food and was about to put it in the dishwasher, when he heard Rhodey coming in.

“Hey Tones? You will never guess what I found in the old boxes of your house in California, it’s that musical box with the…” He stopped talking when he saw Peter.

“Hey Mr. Rhodey, em Tony is in the lab”

“Hey Peter. Tony didn’t mention you would be here, how are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks, what is that musical thing you were saying…?” Peter asked, while picking his dishes and taking them to the kitchen, he was just finishing his orange juice when Rhodey answered.

“Oh, this is an old musical box. It was from Tony’s mother, I think. It plays a song she used to sing to him, you want to hear?”

And with that, the musical box started its melody. Peter sat in shock. He had heard that song before. He didn’t realize he had let go of the glass he has holding and now it was broken on the floor. Rhodey was looking at him, maybe he was saying something? But Peter didn’t hear it. It was like a new flashback in that moment, of his dad, singing that Italian lullaby song he remembered. He was pretty sure he had tears on his eyes. He still had that melody on his mind. 

When the melody stopped, he was finally able to snap out of it. Rhodes was still looking at him, a worried expression on his face but Peter needed to get out. He needed to know whatever it was that lady had found out. So he just left to find Happy, leaving Rhodey confused and wondering what the hell just happened.

  
\-----------------------------  


“Tones, you didn’t tell me Peter was coming over,” he said once he got down the lab.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Rhodey, Peter is coming over”

He just rolled his eyes at his friend. “Tony, listen, something weird just happened, with Peter”

That caught Tony’s attention. “What is it? What happened?”

“Relax man, he is fine, I think. It’s just that, I found that musical box? From your mom?”

“Yeah, the one I used to sing to Peter, for him to go to sleep” He had a fond smile on his face but his heart hurt when he thought about his son.

” Yes, that would be the one, so Peter saw it and asked me about it and I just said it was your mom’s right? And then I played the melody for him to listen and then suddenly, it was like he wasn’t there at all. He looked surprised and had tears in his eyes, as if he were remembering something, I kept talking to him but it was like he was in a trance. It was strange. Then he just left without an explanation”

“What? That is weird. He has been acting strange lately.” With that, he explained everything that had happened with Peter in the last few weeks to his best friend. But Tony still had questions about Peter’s behavior. He just wished the kid would tell him what was going on in his head. 

He didn’t want to interfere with whatever it was the kid was looking for, but now he was worried. So Tony started with the facts he knew. 

-His aunt suffers a head injury in a car accident.  
-He stayed in a foster home 2 weeks without any familiar faces.  
-Peter mentioned he was looking for answers, something about his family.  
-Doesn’t have anything to do with Spiderman.  
-Something he needs to do by himself on Queens.  
-Had that weird moment on the fire of the building.  
-Had that weird flashback listening to a melody from his mom’s musical box.  
-Has a weird piece of paper that kinda looks like a letter.

He starts thinking. How do all of those have to do with each other? Is there a relation between all of that? Yeap, he is totally and completely lost. He has no idea what the hell is going on with the kid.

  
\-----------------------------  


When Peter finally arrived in the city, he told Happy to leave him in his apartment and pick him up in a couple of hours. He had asked Ned to leave the blanket, the robot and his Spiderman suit near the window of his room so he could take it later, but for now, he needed to go to the address of the old child services lady.

When he got there, she told him she hadn’t found anything at first but then, in some hidden carpet, she found what appeared to be a letter, directed to him. She had never seen it before. It was pretty well hidden she almost missed it. No one had opened it, it was still sealed. It was sent from California 11 years ago. Around the time of the fire and the plane crash. 

Now he was really curious about it, so he just thanked her and went to Ned’s house for his things. He wasn’t planning on going out as Spiderman just yet, but now that he was living with Mr. Stark, he didn’t need to hide his suit. Then, he went to his room in his apartment to read this new letter.

_  
To: Peter Parker_

_You are just a kid. 4 years old I think. I had never heard about you until that day I found you outside that burning house and took you to that child services place. I don’t know how much you remember about it. But it was me the one who set that house on fire. I’m the reason your mother is dead. And the guilt is killing me._

_I didn’t know you were going to be there. I thought the house would be empty. I was paid by a man to set that house on fire at that specific time. I never questioned him. He is a very powerful man. He set up a plan. Somehow, he covered everything up. For the police and the news, for the rest of the world, no one died in that fire. But you and I know that is not the truth. Your mother died in that fire. You were supposed to die in that fire._

_He made it look as if you never arrived in California at all. Something about setting up a plane crash to get rid of all the evidence, he said. I’m not sure what he meant by that. But if he is trying to pull this off without witnesses, then somehow, I will be on his radar soon too._

_I needed to write this letter and explain everything to you. Maybe someday you will be able to find out the truth. I owed you that at least._

_I’m sorry. I can’t tell you who I am. Not for me but for my family. I don’t want to put them in danger. But I can tell you who this man was. The one who planned all of this: Obadiah Stane.  
I don’t know what he has against you, or your family, but now he will think you are dead and won’t come after you. At least I hope so. _

_I’m sorry. I hope that this letter helps to understand your past a little better. I hope you can forgive me._

What. The. Fuck.


	10. Finding my truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Peter put the pieces of the puzzle of their lives together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY! What you have all been waiting for... I rewrote this thing like a thousand times before I was happy with it. I hope it didn’t end up being horrible. Enjoy!

When Happy picked him up, he was pretty shaken up and was quiet for most of the trip upstate. He was still thinking of that letter. How could he not?

Obadiah Stane. Why did that name sound familiar? He was pretty sure he had heard it before. He took out his phone and googled the man: Ex-Business partner of Tony Stark.

Now he remembered. The man had tried to take Tony’s company by sending him to Afghanistan. He is the one that got Tony kidnapped all those years ago. Tony had never mentioned him, but after all the SHIELD was HYDRA thing, well, some secrets were no longer secrets. 

Now that he thought about it, the dates of all of these events were actually really close, all in 2008. Was that a coincidence? He just got a letter confirming that his parents were murdered. Someone had planned it. And according to that letter, it was Obadiah Stane. Maybe he could ask Mr. Stark about him? It would probably be an awkward conversation but what choice did he have? Why would this Obadiah guy plan to kill his parents and even himself? As far as he knew, Richard and Mary were scientists. What reason could there be to want them both dead? 

Here is where his investigation took him, to ask Mr. Stark if he knew something about his parents. He did promised the man he would ask for help if he needed it. And now, to the final piece of the puzzle, he would need Mr. Stark’s help. Although, he wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.

  
\-----------------------------  


When he got to the compound, he thanked Happy and left to find Mr. Stark. How do you start a conversation like that? –Hey, Mr. Stark, I think your ex buddy from SI might have killed my parents, do you know anything about it? - Yeah, like that was going to happen. 

He was so deep in thought, thinking on how to ask his mentor about it, that he didn’t notice that he was actually in the kitchen waiting for him.

“Hey, Pete, how was your little trip? Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Mr. Stark! I didn’t see you there, i… its eem nothing important, don’t worry about it”

“Kid, I can literally see the smoke coming out of your brain by how much you are overthinking something. Just tell me, how did your little investigation go? What did you find out?” 

Peter decided he should tell him now before he lost the courage. He had no idea how he was going to explain everything but Mr. Stark cared for him. He trusted him. He could help him find the missing answers. It would be kinda complicated to fill him in the entire story but well, it was worth it.

“Okay, Mr. Stark. I kinda found something big? I mean, something I was not expecting at all. And maybe you can help me? I don’t know, but I need to tell you everything, so it can make sense, so I’m going to pick up a couple of things from my room and explain everything to you, okay?”

Not how Tony had expected things to go. He thought he would have to dig the information out of the kid. Almost beg him for it. And here was the kid, telling him he was going to explain everything. Well, he was not complaining. 

“Alright kid, let’s talk in the lab? If you want to, you can show me everything in there”

Peter went to his room to get Richard’s letter. He already had everything else in the bag he brought back from Ned’s. The blanket, the robot, the other letter. He needed to explain his dreams and the fire but hopefully Mr. Stark would understand the story. Now he had most of the information.

A couple of minutes later, they were in the lab. Tony was ready to whatever it was the kid was about to say to him. He would deal with it, help him through it.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t know where to start for this to make sense. Um, well I guess, the thing is, after the whole fight with the Vulture I started having these dreams, right? About a house on fire? And a woman screaming my name? It was really weird and I didn’t think anything of them but they kept happening. Anyway, after the whole accident with May and going to live in a foster home and everything, I kinda forgot about it, until I was in this burning building, trying to get someone out and had this weird flashback? It was pretty much the same from my dream but it felt more real and I remembered some more details about it and after that I just didn’t know if they were memories so I started researching about my parents, you know? My past, my childhood, everything. So going through some things in my apartment, I found this letter from Richard and well, here just read it.”

Tony was still making sense of everything the kid was saying. Apparently, he was _not_ ready to hear what Peter was telling him. Peter having flashbacks of a house in fire? That was weird. He didn’t know what to think, so he just started reading the letter Peter put in his hand and started to panic a little. 

“So, wait, Richard was not your biological father? Then, who…?”

“I don’t know, but I also found this blanket with my name on it that I think was from when I was a baby and this toy, a robot, I think my dad gave it to me, I don’t know, I don’t really remember, but…”

Peter took the items out of his bag and kept explaining things but Tony was no longer listening to him. That blue blanket was Peter’s. His Peter. And that toy. That robot. Tony made that robot for his son. It wasn’t possible. It just couldn’t be. His Peter was dead. But then how could this Peter have all these things?

Peter must have noticed he wasn’t listening anymore, but failed to notice his internal struggle. “Mr. Stark, are you even listening? This part is really important, then I found this lady…”

“Peter.” He interrupted the kid. “Where did you get those things” He pointed to the blanket and the toy.

“The toy and the blanket? They are mine. I think I have always had them, why?”

Now Tony was pretty sure he had tears in his eyes. Could it be? Could his Peter still be alive and right in front of him? Was he dreaming?

Even though Peter hadn’t finished his story, everything was starting to make sense. Peter’s strange behavior. The flashbacks of a house on fire. Reacting to the melody he used to sing to his Peter. Owning the blanket and the toy he made for his son. Now he felt like an idiot for not putting it together sooner. For a self-proclaimed genius, he could be rather stupid sometimes.

“Peter, what was your mother’s name?” As stupid as it sounded, Tony had never made a simple background check on the kid. He never needed to. Now he was starting to regret that decision. 

Peter finally noticed the emotional roller coaster his mentor was experiencing, and stopped explaining his story to try to understand what was happening with him.”

“Mary. Mary Parker? But before she got married I think it was Fitzpatrick”

Now Tony was definitely crying. This was his son. His Peter. His baby boy. How was this possible? How was he alive? He had no idea. And right now he didn’t care. He was in front of his son. His 15-year-old, very alive, superhero son. Now he understood why he always thought of his son when looking at Peter. It was because _it was_ him. He couldn’t believe it. He went to hug Peter and didn’t let go.

  
\-----------------------------  


Peter was really confused now. Seriously. What was happening? He just started explaining the story to Mr. Stark. He only got the blanket and the robot out to show to his mentor and that is where he lost him, he seemed to be thinking about something, maybe trying to organize his thoughts? Either way, he kept on explaining, he wasn’t even halfway through the story when he realized Tony was definitely not listening to him. Like, at all. 

“Mr. Stark, are you even listening? This part is really important, then I found this lady…”

“Peter.” Mr. Stark interrupted him. “Where did you get those things?” 

“The toy and the blanket? They are mine. I think I have always had them, why?” That wasn’t important to the story but Mr. Stark seemed to think they were, he kept staring at him, and were those... tears? Was Mr. Stark trying not to cry? What was going on with his mentor?

“Peter, what was your mother’s name?” 

Peter didn’t understand why Mr. Stark was asking for his mother’s name. How was that relevant to his story? But he answered anyway.

“Mary. Mary Parker? But before she got married I think it was Fitzpatrick”

Now Mr. Stark was definitely crying. What had he done? Did he say something wrong? He was about to apologize but then Mr. Stark was hugging him with all of his strength. As if he thought he would vanish in his arms. Peter was hugging him back even though he had no idea what was going on, so after a while, he asked.

“Umm, Mr. Stark? What is going on?”

That’s when Tony realized Peter had no idea he was his father. How could he? No one even knew he had a kid. Tony was barely able to put it together himself. He was supposed to be, well, dead. Whatever information Peter found, it wasn’t enough to know Tony was his biological father. Now he had some explaining to do.

”Peter. Oh my god, I... I don’t know how to explain this, but I think, I might have some of the answers you are looking for”

“Really? You do? But how? I mean, I haven’t explained everything to you, how could you possibly know what I’m about to say?”

Mr. Stark had this weird smile on his face. Like he had recovered something that was stolen from him and didn’t think he would ever get it back. There was a joy in his eyes he had never seen on the man and whatever it was, it had something to do with him. 

“Peter just, shut up, okay? I need to explain something…”

“No wait, Mr. Stark, I’m confused, did you already know about Obadiah Stane killing my parents? 

“Okay, wait, WHAT?” Obadiah did what? “I have no idea what you are talking about kid, but hear me out, okay? You can finish the rest of your story after I’m done with mine, alright?”

Peter wasn’t sure how Tony’s story had anything to do with his, but he decided to just listen to his mentor.

“Okay, I don’t know how to start this” Mr. Stark looked nervous, and kinda excited, he was smiling? He had never seen him like that before. “I… I had a kid, he was born 15 years ago and I loved him, he was the light of my life, I kept him a secret from the world, because it would have been dangerous for him to be on the spotlight and it was not the life I wanted for him, anyway, I got to be with him for 4 wonderful years but then Obadiah Stane, the man you were just talking about, ordered my kidnapping in Afghanistan, I’m sure you know all about it. The point is, when I came back, they told me that the same day of my disappearance, my kid, my Peter, and his mother had been in a plane crash.”

“I later found out it was a lie, that Obadiah had set them up with a fake email pretending to be me, to meet in this random house in California and then paid someone to set it on fire, I never knew who he payed or how he managed to make it look like an accident but there was nothing I could do. They were dead. I wasn’t there for my son. I never thought I would see him again. Or at least I thought so… until literally 5 minutes ago, when you started explaining your dreams of a fire and you showed me that blanket and that toy, Peter, I… I made that toy, that robot… for you.”

Peter’s head was spinning. What the hell? Tony Stark had a son? 15 years ago? And his name was Peter? Tony was with him for 4 years until he 'died' on a fire? On a house in California? Set up by Obadiah Stane? Okay, those were too many coincidences with his own story. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His brain was going through a thousand thoughts, trying to catch up with what Mr. Stark was telling him.

“Peter?” He got closer to the boy, cupping his face in his hands. “I think… you are my son. I mean, everything in your story, Richard’s letter and that toy and the blanket, your mother’s name, even your dreams… It makes sense, I guess, Rhodey told me of your reaction to the musical box, it was my mom’s and I used to sing it to you, to go to sleep and you remembered it. I have no idea how you are still alive, how you are here after all this time but you are home, you are here with me.”

“Wait, so… you are saying… I’M YOUR SON?? _Holy shit!_ How is that even possible? I mean, I know-how… I just… I don’t know, and you thought I was dead? I mean, I was supposed to be but then I escaped from the fire and someone took me to child services and I ended up with Uncle Ben and Aunt May but I never thought that you would be…”

“Wait, what? Peter, breathe, finish your story so we can solve this thing together, alright?”

Now Peter started telling his story from the beginning again, now everything made more sense, knowing Tony’s side of the story too. The fire. The plane crash. Why Obadiah tried to kill him. How Tony assumed he was dead and never looked for him before. The letter from the guy who set the house on fire.

Tony explained to him how Mary used a fake name for him to hide the fact that he was a Stark. He always assumed it had been Fitzpatrick, but obviously she had used her husband’s last name: Parker, to keep his real identity hidden from the world. Well, it had worked. A little too well. Now, Tony had answers too. His son was alive. After being separated for 11 years, for some miracle, he found him again. And he would never let him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left!!! I don’t know when I will be able to post it, I’m still writing it and finishing some details but hopefully it will be ready before Avengers: Endgame. I’m watching the movie on Thursday night so maybe I will post it before I die with that movie. 
> 
> Finally the truth was revealed and we will get to see some more Tony and Peter in the next chapter to wrap things up. Thanks for reading!


	11. Wherever you are you can fly to where I am

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy endings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the final chapter.  
> This is kinda more of an epilogue than anything else, to close the story and some final details.  
> I hope you like it!

Peter couldn’t believe it. Tony Stark was his father. As in _the biological father_. Turns out, he did have the rest of the answers he was looking for. How neither of them knew the truth, but still managed to find each other was beyond amazing. It was almost destiny. After everything both of them had lost through the years, they were finally reunited. 

Tony was happier than he had ever seen him. After finishing both their stories, making sense of them together, and hugging for what seemed an eternity, they went to eat lunch together and then went to the hospital to see Aunt May and get everything ready to transfer her to the compound. On the way, they called Pepper and Rhodey and told them all about their newfound relationship. 

“Tony! You are telling me that Peter Parker is our Peter?“ Tony was pretty sure Pepper started to cry, she had loved the boy when he was a baby. “I can’t wait to see you both, I’m taking a plane back home right now! I can’t wait until Monday! This is amazing”

“If I’m going to be honest with you here Tones, you kinda already treated Peter like your kid! I’m so happy for you Tony! And for you too Peter, I can’t believe my nephew is back and alive!!”

“Nephew?” Peter shyly asked

“Well yes Peter!! From now on, I am Uncle Rhodey to you. No more Mr.”

When the call ended, it left Peter thinking. He has a new family now. He never thought he would get that again. Besides Aunt May, there really wasn’t anyone else he called family, I mean, Ned was pretty close but it wasn’t the same. That’s when he remembered he should call his best friend to tell him everything he found out.  
It was Friday afternoon, Ned should be out of school now and he couldn’t wait to tell him what he discovered. Ned was silent for a good minute, trying to make sure that whatever he was hearing was right.

“So you are telling me, Tony Stark… IRON MAN IS YOUR FATHER?!?!?!?!??! PETER DO YOU KNOW HOW AWESOME THIS IS!?!? I can’t believe it!! Since when did he have a kid?”

“Yeah apparently it was a secret from the world and he thought I was dead, but yeah, now we found each other”

“Does that mean you are going to call him dad?”

As strange as that sounded, Peter hadn’t thought of that. At all. He couldn’t even call him by his name, so wouldn’t it be weird if he started calling him dad? He was right beside him in the car, so his existential crisis would have to wait.

“Eem, I don’t know Ned. We are still figuring thigs out. I literally found out like a couple of hours ago”

“Okay Peter, I’m so happy for you, you found what you were looking for and now everything makes sense!”

He hung up after that, saying goodbye to Ned and just stared at Tony in the driver seat. That was his dad. He never thought he would say that word again, let alone have his father by his side, but life is unexpected.

Tony realized Peter was staring at him and he couldn’t help but smile. His son was right next to him. Alive. Sure, he was a teenage superhero with the smallest self-preservation instinct ever and he had been through so many traumatic experiences in his short life but he was there. And Tony was going to make sure it stayed that way. He was ready to take helicopter parenting to a whole new level.  
He was dealing with the hospital and paperwork while Peter went to see his aunt and talked to the doctor about her improvements. Her head was healing, she was getting better and it was only a matter of time for her to wake up. Then, they stopped by Peter’s apartment to pick up a few things and started their way back to the compound. When they got there, they went to the lab to work on some things together. It was always there they had their bonding time so it just felt natural to go talk there.

“Hey Pete, I know this is new for you… I mean, it’s kinda new for me too, I was not expecting things to go the way they did but I’m just really glad to have you back, you have no idea how much it hurt when I thought I lost you back then”

“I’m really glad too. Of all the things I thought you were going to tell me, being your son wasn’t what I expected either but eem I’m happy you are… my dad” There it was. He called him dad. Sort of. He was nervous so he started rambling. “I mean, I kinda already saw you as a father figure before… any of this, just because you were always there for me and I hope that is not too weird? But now that you are… you know… actually my dad, it just kinda makes sense, you know?”

Tony was ecstatic. Peter had just called him dad. He hadn’t thought about that word in such a long time. And here he was being called dad by the best kid in the world. He was grateful to have him back. His only regret was that we wasn’t there to see him grow up. To be there for him. But now he would be, from now on, he would always be there for his son.

-“Well, now we are finally done with the “Mr. Stark huh?” He said with a smile on his face while Peter’s face went red.

-“Eeem, yeah? I mean, If you don’t want me to call you that…”

-“Okay, let me stop you right there. Why wouldn’t I want you to call me dad? Pete, you are my kid, my son and hearing you call me dad just makes me so so happy so don’t you dare stop”

Now Peter also had a smile on his face. “Okay… dad”

  
\-----------------------------  


A week later, May woke up. Finally. Peter was relieved. He might have found his biological dad, but May would always have a place in his heart, she is the one who raised him with Uncle Ben, she was his family and he loved her. He filled her in everything she missed, about his little investigation project and the truth about his parents. Turns out, she didn’t officially knew anything about it, but she did had her suspicions that Richard and Mary weren’t telling them everything there was to know, but she was happy for them, at first she was really confused with the story, I mean, what are the chances of something like that happening? Of all these forces of the universe keeping Tony and Peter apart, all those years, only to find each other again in some pretty unusual circumstances.

Tony and Peter were getting used to their new dynamic as father and son. May had been getting better and they were staying at the tower Peter had been going back to school and he was finally going to his decathlon practices again, to prepare for the competition that was only a week away. He didn’t want to let the team down again. Mostly Ned and MJ. Also, May had promised she wouldn’t miss it, and after hearing about it, Tony also promised to go as well. He wasn’t going to miss anything else from his son’s life anymore.

Peter was basically on top of the world. After everything he went through the last few weeks. Everything had worked out at the end. May was alright. He found his dad and revealed the truth about his past. He was even considering asking MJ on a date. Everything was good with his life and he couldn’t ask for anything else. He was still getting used to his new life as the son of Tony Stark. There were still a lot of things to figure out. But he had his family for it now. He wouldn’t have to do anything alone. He was happy. 

Tony felt like part of his life was given back to him. He felt lost without his son for years. He felt guilty for not being there for him. But now he had a second chance. He got to be with his son again. Now he felt complete. He had his own family now. He had Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Peter and even May. When Yinsen asked him all those years ago, in that cave, if he had a family to come back to, he said no. Now, his answer would be different. Now, he had everything he wanted.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't as exciting as i hoped it would be, but there wasn't much going on either so i hoped you liked the finale, even if it was a simple one.  
> Also, i'm just really nervous about Endgame and i can't literally think of anything else right now. I'm going to watch it in less than 7 hours and I'M DYING!!!  
> Update: I saw Avengers Endgame. IT WAS EPIC AND I DIED! I was not ready for it. I don't know what i'm going to do with my life now.  
> Thank you for your comments, your kudos and just for taking the time to read this story! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, hope you enjoyed it.  
> I already have plans to where this is going, just working out some final details.  
> Please leave a comment or kudos or something to tell me this isnt horrible.  
> Thanks for reading!!


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